Wild About Harry's

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Wild About Harry's is an uptown Dallas institution. I ate there for the first time after my sister moved to Knox St about 7 years ago, & it's been a part of my personal geography of the best of Dallas ever since.

The friendly giant hot dog and bright colors force you to leave your serious work and worries outside and just take a moment for a great hot dog and some custard.

This restaurant has endeared itself further to me recently, though, and I am excited to share this little bonus story before I give a brief review of Harry's excellent fare.

My husband and I were walking along Knox St and we met a young homeless man there who asked us for something to eat. We bought him some lunch and sat down to eat with him, & after telling us his story, he mentioned that he has always been drawn to Knox St. because "Mr. Harry" of Wild About Harry's was always kind and generous to him, making sure he had something to eat, and talking to him about his life. He said that even after Mr. Harry died, his employees had continued to show him kindness. 

That elevated Harry's even higher in my book, and I find myself proud to patronize and promote this ethical and top quality franchise that started here in Dallas.

I went this time with my husband and best schoolmate, and I ordered the Texas with sauerkraut instead of onions and a side of relish, (famous at Harry's due to its vibrant color). My friend ordered the Knox Street without kraut, and my Husband ordered the Chicago. 

My dog was excellent, and even with the abundance of toppings including sloppy chili, I was able to eat it with my hands, as God intended, without making a total mess. The top quality hot dog and poppyseed bun elevate the sandwich (yes, sandwich- ask Alton Brown) and answer the question, "can you really improve on a hot dog?" with an abrupt slap to the face.

The onion rings were a thing of beauty, piping hot and perfectly breaded, achieving a practiced thickness that highlights the onion flavor while keeping the vegetable firmly in its place.

My friend recently moved to Dallas, and had not experienced the awesomeness of Wild About Harry's before, and she thoroughly approved.

In fact, she liked it so much she was texting me about it several days later:

Harry's also features one of my favorite things, local sodas:

My regular readers have probably picked up on my enthusiasm for unique beverages and local sodas, but you may wonder why I am so particularly excitable about this. I don't drink alcohol, and I've always been a bit jealous of the regional versions and varieties of beer and wine, not to mention the fun local element of microbreweries. So whenever I see opportunity for us dry foodies to partake in the culture of specialty beverages, I get really excited.

Finally, I mustn't forget the custard. My friend got the chocolate custard with bits of waffle cone, and I got the chocolate custard sundae with chopped peanut butter cup and rainbow sprinkles. It is excellent quality custard, and a perfect match for a hearty hot dog.

So go! Check them out! Support this local, ethical, top quality, no nonsense (ok some nonsense, but only the best kind) restaurant and spend your money there! You'll be glad you did.

Modern Market

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A super fitness-focused friend of mine recommended I join her at Modern Market for lunch some time to consider for review. I had seen it several times before, as it is across from a grocery store I frequent, but I admit at first glance I had thought based on the neighborhood that it was probably outside my everyday lunch price range.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Modern Market is not only very fairly priced, it features unbelievably fresh and seasonal menu items that rotate with the availability of produce.

They also touched on my personal weakness, unique local beverage selections:

My friend and I decided to share a signature salad and a pizza, which were completely original recipes.

The champagne dressing was outstanding, and the portion was exceedingly generous. They considerately offered the dressing on the side, allowing the option to take half of the salad home without it wilting from the dressing- this is always a pleasant bonus for me. 

I selected the pizza, and was seriously impressed with the freshness and quality of the ingredients, as well as the excellent crust. Modern Market has expertly struck a balance between a thin crust pizza and a soft outer crust. Too often a thin crust pizza is basically just a cracker with toppings- not so at Modern market.

The "pizza sauce" was actually a fresh garlic puree and I was amazed to find that it was somehow not overwhelming, but instead punched up and highlighted the flavors of the toppings.

About a week later, I suggested to my husband that we pick up something from Modern Market to-go for an easy dinner. I was surprised, and I admit not a little disappointed to find that I had discovered the restaurant at the very end of a menu season, and I couldn't order the Bianco I had so enjoyed the week before. The cashier was very patient if perhaps a little aggressive in selling me on the new menu, but I have to hand it to him, he sold the crap out of this menu- it was already about an hour and a half later than I usually ate dinner and my hanger was not making it an easy task.

He ultimately talked me into the new Sausage Pesto pizza, a Blueberry Pesto sandwich (yes, you read that right), and a side of Rosemary Sweet Potato Mash for my husband.

While I admit that most of my lack of enthusiasm for the Sausage Pesto pizza was a result of my disappointment that my new favorite pizza was already off the menu, and that fresh pureed garlic had left flavor promises to my palate that would be difficult to fulfill, I found the Sausage Pesto Pizza ok. I expected a stronger pesto flavor, and I found no pesto flavor at all. It was a fairly bland, creamy sauce with whole cloves of roasted garlic that surprised my husband because until he bit into one he actually thought they were chicken. Still, the idea behind the pizza was good, and I actually suspect they forgot to add the pesto, which would absolutely have made a huge difference in the deliciousness of this dish. Also, the sausage was excellent, and tasted as though it had been made in house, and that crust could redeem almost any topping mistakes.

I mostly ordered the Blueberry Pesto sandwich out of morbid curiosity, and because it came so enthusiastically recommended by the cashier. It really sounded like a novelty sandwich that was constructed for the sake of uniqueness, though I could see how blueberries could take the place of tomatoes as a sweet and tart element in the classic combination of tomatoes and basil.

...It actually wasn't bad! It wasn't a mind blowing new combination that changed the way I looked at the ingredients and created a completely new flavor sensation, the way combining say cinnamon and chocolate might do that, but it was a pretty good meatless sandwich. I was correct in my guess that the blueberry spread acted in the role of the sweet acidic balance that one typically looks to a tomato for, but it didn't really contribute something more than a tomato would. Still, as a novel twist on a classic it was successful in that Modern Market took a flavor combination I really did not expect to succeed and made a pretty darn good sandwich.

The rosemary sweet potato mash was, understandably, basically baby food, but dadgum it was good! Well balanced and delicious, this is an excellent side item for any of the healthy fare offered by Modern Market.

All in all, I highly recommend you go check out Modern Market. You're guaranteed to feel both virtuous and satiated, and you won't feel that conflict between healthy choices, flavor, quality, and wallet. Just enter with an open mind and wait to see what their seasonal menu has to offer you, because I think I sabotaged my own experience the second time by priming my taste buds for a specific menu item.

Original Pancake House

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I had been to Original Pancake House before, but had never paid much attention to the menu, defaulting to whatever I happened to be craving that day and paying closer attention to my companions than the food. However, after getting into a kind of hilarious exchange with the OPH Twitter account, I wanted to go back and pay attention to its merits as a restaurant. 

When we arrived at the restaurant on a Sunday at lunch time, there was a fairly significant wait. This merely told me that Original Pancake House is the place to go when you're craving brunch after church or after waking up late on a Sunday morning.

Their menu is similar to many other places such as IHOP that specialize in breakfasts and pancakes, however OPH also features a few extremely special and unique items, including the Dutch Baby and their signature Apple Pancake. It is also worth noting that while the fare is similar in type, it is significantly higher quality than places such as IHOP and Waffle House. (Don't get me wrong, those places aren't bad most of the time, but better known for their 24 hour service than the quality of their food.) My eating companions and I managed to order a decent variety of menu items between us:

Dad:

Me:

My husband:

My grandma:

My mom:

I stole a bite from my mom's crepe, but I mostly tucked in to my massive stack of chocolate chip pancakes. I was a tad disappointed when the arrived because the waitress had described them as "Chocolate with chocolate chips" so I had expected a decadent chocolate pancake punctuated with chocolate chips, setting it apart from the standard chocolate chip pancakes offered at other establishments. Yet when they arrived, they were plain pancakes with chocolate chips. Still, as soon as they were set before me I noted a distinct smell that I only ever pick up from really well made pancakes: baking soda. 

I can't even explain why this scent is so strongly correlated with excellent pancakes, but it has been my consistent observation of that familiar, almost yeasty scent steaming up from my plate that has accompanied the best piles of pancakes, and while it's not yeast, I do think it's the leavening. I think part of it is that if you can smell the baking soda, it's not generally an overly sugary pancake. Pancakes should be a vessel for sugar, not confections in themselves.

I wanted to try one of the signature dishes, but did not order them for my lunch because I was unsure whether I would actually like the Apple Pancake (I am very picky about cooked apple chunks in my food) and was wary of taking the risk for the price. My dad suggested we order one for the table so that we could all try it for the first time.

It was piping hot, sticky, gooey, custard-like, sweet yet balanced, and the apples were sliced consistently, cooked well, and in perfect proportion to the cake beneath. It looked like an overabundance of cinnamon upon first glance, but it actually balanced well with the rest of the dish.

Even after all of us had eaten a hearty lunch, the 5 of us managed to finish off almost the entire mound:

Original Pancake House also features a full coffee bar with a wide variety of syrups and an industrial espresso machine. They are not messing around with their coffee.

All in all, if you have never been to Original Pancake House, it is worth a visit. If you've been but have never tried one of their signature dishes, I strongly recommend you try them. 

Caffe Bene

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Today's review is a shorty but a goodie. Caffe Bene is located in the same shopping center as H-Mart on the corner of George Bush Tollway and Old Denton. It's a pretty great coffee shop that also features several fun ice cream flavors, as well as unique savory dishes and desserts. However, it's the most unique offering at Caffe Bene, which I haven't seen at any other coffee shop or restaurant in the area, that prompts me to review them.

Have you ever tried Honeybread?

This pillowy slab of carbiliciousness is worth making a special trip for. You can get it in several incarnations, including strawberries and cheese (shown here, the cheese is not sweetened, but between the bread and the sweet berries, that provides a balance that keeps the whole dish from becoming overwhelming), garlic and cheddar, and cinnamon. 

This special dish is so popular, I learned the hard way the first several times I tried to order it that Caffe Bene frequently sells out of the bread several hours before closing, so it's best to try to experience this excellence somewhat earlier in the day. This is a pity at times because Caffe Bene is also one of the few coffee shops on that side of town that is open past 9, so it's a favorite for those late night, bedtime stalling, life changing conversations with my mom or best friend or husband.

What I love about Korean desserts and pastries is that they are rarely very sweet. Just a hint of honey, a dash of powdered sugar, no need to make the sugar the star of the show.

When you go try it, be sure to bring someone with you to share it, or save space for a whole meal- it's a formidable block of spongey starch piled high with rich cream cheese and sweet strawberry slices, and should not be attempted with a mild tea time flight of fancy.

FrankenFood Friday: S'mores M&Ms

One of my all time favorite things in life is a good s'more. So when I saw the Crispy M&M S'mores, I knew I had to try them for a FrankenFood Friday.

My instinct when I first opened the package was to try all three colors at once, and they did taste... not unlike a s'more, though there was a more gingerbread sort of note to it that was a little too strong. I tasted the colors separately and was pleasantly surprised to realize that the different colors seemed to have different flavors, which corresponded to their color (white tasted a bit like marshmallow, brown tasted like a normal M&M, tan tasted like weird gingerbread). So for the full s'more effect, you have to taste all three in the same bite. It kind of carries the fun, "some assembly required" aspect of s'mores into the M&M world in a whimsical way.

Still, that said once again this FrankenFood did not meet my most valued criteria of making something better than the inspiring individual elements. I could see some people who happen to have a taste for gingerbread lattes finding this an improvement on M&Ms, but there is no way this is an improvement on S'mores, and the tan flavor is too odd. The real test of a FrankenFood is whether I want to finish it off. It's so strange that FrankenFoods are the only sweets that enter my home that ever don't get finished off for weeks. I know I wasn't too impressed with these because although I liked them fine for the taste test, I haven't gone back to eat any more in over a week. I do like the white ones, though, I think they should do a chocolate and marshmallow one without the weird spiced flavor. Over all, I think this is an inexpensive enough experiment that it's worth trying if you are the sort of person who tends to like gingerbread or pumpkin spice lattes- it might be the best M&Ms you ever try!

If you do try these, or if you already have, please let me know what you think in the comments!